First appearance on Fox: Rep. Roger Williams (R-Texas) this week will introduce a bill in the House of Representatives that would require federal immigration authorities to screen all immigrants crossing the U.S. border against the FBI’s terror watch list. It is planned.
The measure, the Border Potential Terrorist Identification Act of 2024, requires: U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers screen each immigrant who crosses the U.S. border, legal or illegal, against the terrorist watch list and detain them until a cross-referencing investigation of each immigrant is completed.
“Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection may , shall detain and maintain such alien, “Secretary,” the bill states.
Immigrant on terror watch list arrested for illegally crossing Texas border ahead of Biden, Trump visit: sources
Rep. Roger Williams (R-Texas) plans to introduce a bill this week that would require federal immigration authorities to screen all immigrants crossing the U.S. border against the FBI’s terrorist watch list. be. (Getty Images)
“We are a country of laws, and it is past time for this administration to behave that way,” Williams told Fox News Digital. “Joe Biden is encouraging the deadly incursion of combat-age men onto American soil, and every day the influx of illegal aliens this Democrat has created allows bad guys to slip past Border Patrol undetected. Under current law, CBP is under no obligation to screen immigrants in its Terrorist Watch List database, and as we have seen too often, dangerous criminals are released into our country and American citizens are threatened. and continue to harm the community.
Border Patrol stops recording the number of people on terrorist watch lists at the southern border
“My bill would require CBP to screen all individuals attempting to cross the border and detain them until their immigration status is returned. Republicans seek to restore and end law and order. As we fight, now more than ever, we must recognize who is in this country: “Biden’s deadly open borders policy is destroying America,” Williams added.
Williams’ move comes after Patrick Rechleitner, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), announced earlier this year that terrorists were allowed to roam freely in the United States for nearly a year after illegally entering the country at the border. This is in response to the fact that it was revealed that
Rechleitner said at a February briefing that the terrorists were arrested within 48 hours of ICE’s “awareness.”
Migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border are photographed at a U.S. Border Patrol processing center in Lukeville, Arizona, Dec. 7, 2023. (John Moore/Getty Images)
Rechleitner’s confession followed a report in the Daily Caller that federal authorities captured a terrorist who entered the United States illegally through the southern border in March 2023. However, the terrorist was later released to the United States due to a “mismatch” in his name. He is on a terrorist watch list, the Daily Caller reported.
The newspaper said the unnamed terrorist was a member of al-Shabab and was arrested in Minneapolis last month.
“A 27-year-old Somali national entered the United States near San Ysidro, California, without inspection on March 13, 2023, and was arrested by U.S. Border Patrol on the same day,” ICE spokeswoman Erin Bruche told Fox News earlier this year. told. “On January 18, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) received information regarding a non-national threat to national security, and on January 20, the non-national was placed in ICE custody and is currently being held in accordance with ICE policy. but subject to ongoing regulatory evaluation of their cases.”
Earlier this month, it was revealed that Carlos Obed Epes Bedoya, 40, a man on the terrorist watch list, was arrested after illegally crossing the Texas border in February. CBP officials told Fox News Digital that Yepes-Bedoya is a “positive individual” on the terrorist watch list, but did not name the terrorist group.
Williams’ action comes as illegal immigration is a key issue in the 2024 election and remains a thorny issue for President Biden and his administration. Polls show that more than half of Americans believe the large number of illegal immigrants entering the United States is a serious threat to the country.
Border Patrol agents process immigrants who entered the United States illegally the day before they are taken to the port of entry in Jacumba, California, on December 6, 2023. (Valerie Macon/AFP via Getty Images)
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The Southern Border Crisis is now in its third year, with more than 2.4 million encounters in 2023 and more than 300,000 in December alone, setting a new monthly record for encounters and setting multiple records. There is.
There were 169 human encounters between southern border ports of entry on the FBI’s terrorist watch list in 2023, according to CBP data.
Fox News’ Lorraine Taylor, Adam Shaw and Bill Melgin contributed to this report.
